"Well, I'm back. ...I wouldn't mind checking on things at the Birth Tower while I'm at it, though..."
High above the Treant Forest, Rei muttered those words from atop Seto's back.
The one who objected was Nielson, perched on his shoulder.
"No way. When I wanted to play in Gilm, you turned me down, didn't you? In that case, I'm vetoing this idea too."
In a way, it was payback.
Nielson floated a smug, triumphant expression, but Rei hadn't been particularly serious about wanting to show his face at the Birth Tower—or more accurately, at the adventurers guarding it.
Had Nielson said she didn't mind, Rei probably would have actually gone through with it.
"I see. Then let's head to the Fairy Dwelling. I figured going to the Birth Tower might serve as a bit of a diversion for you."
"...Huh?"
Nielson wore an expression of genuine surprise at Rei's words.
She had objected to his suggestion as retaliation for not being able to move freely in Gilm, but on reflection, she couldn't help but think that maybe that would have been nice too.
Still, now that she had already said it, there was no taking it back.
Even Nielson couldn't bring herself to say "never mind, forget that."
Besides, this was the Treant Forest.
If there was a possibility that the Chief had been watching their movements in Gilm through some means, then this Treant Forest—where the Fairy Dwelling was located—was even more so.
Because of that, the possibility that the Chief was aware of their current situation couldn't be denied.
"Then again, if we stay in the sky forever, enemies might come... ah."
Speak of the devil.
Mid-sentence, Rei spotted several harpies flying past at a distance.
They might have built nests in the Treant Forest, but fortunately, upon seeing Seto, the harpies seemed to understand the overwhelming difference in rank and beat their wings at full speed to distance themselves from him.
If they attacked Seto—no, even if they didn't attack first, if Seto capriciously struck at them, they would die instantly. That was what they understood.
If these were Goblins, they wouldn't grasp the power gap even looking at Seto and would charge seeking food or simply something to attack.
Then they would be annihilated by Seto, finally understand the difference in strength, and immediately flee.
Compared to such Goblins, harpies—no, most monsters other than them—understood the gap in power and rank the moment they saw Seto, and fled rather than fighting.
In that sense, the lack of trouble was something Seto and Rei, who traveled with him, appreciated.
"Grrrl?"
Looking at the fleeing harpies, Seto purred as if asking, "Should I not give chase?"
The harpies had fled on their own, but that was only if Seto intended to let them go.
If Rei asked him to take down the harpies, Seto would catch up to them in an instant, and escape would be impossible.
However, Rei shook his head at Seto's question.
"No, there's no need to chase them. Don't worry about it. There's no point in killing one or two harpies here."
If Rei needed harpy magic stones through Beast Magic, letting the harpies go wouldn't have been an option.
The same would apply if they weren't ordinary harpies but Rare Species or High-ranking Species.
But since the fleeing harpies were just ordinary, run-of-the-mill harpies, he felt no particular need to attack them.
"Well, the harpies are gone too, so let's head back to the Fairy Dwelling."
"Grrrl... Grru?"
At Rei's words, Seto purred in acknowledgment and began to descend near the Fairy Dwelling, but suddenly seemed to notice something and gave a quizzical look.
"Seto?"
Perhaps curious about Seto's behavior, Rei turned a questioning gaze toward him.
"Grrrl? Grru, grrrrlrr."
In response to Rei, Seto purred while looking at a particular spot on the ground.
Dense trees grew there, and the branches concealed the ground below, making it impossible to see clearly through.
Even so, what could be glimpsed through the gaps in the branches was...
"Adventurers? Or maybe scholars or alchemists?"
It was a group of people.
Because they were hidden by branches, Rei couldn't tell exactly how many there were.
However, from what little he could see, there was no doubt it wasn't just one or two people.
The fact that he was able to spot the people on the ground even under such conditions was thanks to Seto's sharp five senses.
In fact, neither Rei nor Nielson had noticed the people traveling on the ground.
"Huh? But wasn't this forest basically off-limits to anyone without permission?"
From her perch on Rei's shoulder, Nielson voiced the question.
"Yeah. In that sense, those people are probably poachers... poachers? Well, I'm not sure if that's the right term in this case, but either way, they definitely entered the Treant Forest without authorization."
"For all that, they don't seem to be trying very hard to hide."
Since she had been able to confirm their presence from the sky, Nielson voiced her doubt.
However, Rei shook his head.
"They're probably being vigilant about their front, back, left, and right. But... they're not paying that much attention to above."
People generally don't look up toward the sky very often.
Moreover, this was the Treant Forest, where the sky was covered by tree branches.
There weren't many beings that could fly to begin with, and even among flying creatures, unless they had sharp five senses like Seto or happened to spot someone through a gap in the branches by chance, finding someone moving through the Treant Forest would be difficult.
"What are you going to do?"
"Leave them be... no, maybe we should capture them."
Rei thought it would be fine to leave the intruders alone.
However, if he let them move freely, they might end up coming toward the Fairy Dwelling.
By coincidence, the suspected intruders were heading in the direction of the Fairy Dwelling, so that possibility couldn't be denied.
Of course, the Treant Forest was vast.
Even with people moving through it, reaching the Fairy Dwelling from here would be extremely difficult.
Or rather, the possibility of them encountering monsters couldn't be denied either.
The Treant Forest was currently a battleground where many animals and monsters competed for territory.
Weak monsters like Goblins could probably be handled by whoever was entering the Treant Forest.
But among the creatures here, while perhaps not Rank A Monsters, Rank B Monsters could appear anywhere, given that this was the frontier.
Given that, it wouldn't be surprising if they were wiped out entirely.
Of course, if a High-Rank Adventurer happened to be among those traveling, it would be a different story.
"Then I'll help out too!"
He had said "capture," but while Rei was considering how exactly to go about it, Nielson made that declaration.
For Nielson, it was likely a way to vent frustration from not being able to move freely in Gilm.
If she returned straight to the Fairy Dwelling, she would be put back to work helping the Chief.
If so, she probably wanted to blow off some steam here first.
"Alright. Then I'll get off Seto and talk to them, and we'll probably end up fighting head-on. When that happens, Nielson, cover me. Seto, circle behind them and attack once the fight with me starts. But don't kill them."
"With you and Seto there, won't they just run before fighting?"
Nielson's words were difficult to argue against.
Even the other side wouldn't think they could win against Rei in a fight.
If they all scattered in different directions, it would be difficult for Rei to deal with them.
No matter how overwhelming Rei's combat power was, he was one person—or rather, one person and one beast, since Seto was with him.
If they each fled in whatever direction they pleased, he could catch some of them, but capturing all of them would be difficult.
"That's exactly why I'm asking you to handle it, right? Just like you did in the forest with the Smog Panthers, use plants to stop their movements. ...Actually, wasn't that the reason you got motivated in the first place?"
"That's part of it, but I wanted to use light. Since I've become able to use it, I want to make sure I can handle it properly."
"I understand that feeling, but prioritize stopping their movements with plants first."
When Rei asked again, Nielson nodded, albeit with visible reluctance.
"Fine. You can't do anything without me, Rei."
Rei wanted to fire back various retorts to those words, but since he was asking Nielson for help, he held his tongue.
Given the current situation, capturing the Treant Forest intruders came first.
"Got it. Then... are you ready? Let's go."
With that, Rei dropped from Seto's back.
They had been flying at an altitude of about one hundred meters as usual, so naturally Rei fell straight toward the ground.
And, as usual, Rei used his Sleipnir boots to kick through the air, killing his speed... before eventually passing through gaps in the branches and landing on the ground, right in front of the intruders.
The impact of the landing was completely absorbed by the bending of his knees, so for someone who had come down—or rather fallen—from a height of a hundred meters, it was an almost soundless landing.
"Wha!?"
Perhaps because Rei's appearance was so unexpected, the intruders in the Treant Forest let out such cries.
Normally, such behavior in front of Rei would be nothing short of suicide.
That said, Rei's goal this time was to capture rather than kill, so he didn't do anything in particular upon seeing the opponents startled by his sudden appearance.
There was also the intention of waiting for Seto to circle behind them.
In the meantime, Rei carefully confirmed how many opponents there were.
There were exactly ten.
For an adventurer party, it was too many to be considered a single party.
The reason a single party typically had a maximum of about five members wasn't because the Guild had set that as a rule, but because when moving as a single group, around five was the most manageable number.
Of course, depending on the party leader's skill, it was possible to maneuver five or more—even ten—people freely, but such individuals were rare, and above all, as adventurers, they needed to complete requests to earn money.
Even if they completed a request, the reward naturally didn't increase just because the number of adventurers grew.
It would be one thing if they were on some kind of commission-based arrangement.
For those reasons, a party with more members than usual needed someone capable of managing about ten people and constantly taking on high-paying—in other words, equally dangerous—requests.
From what Rei could see, the ten people before him showed no sign of being such skilled hands.
If anything, their skill level didn't appear particularly high.
"Wh-who are you!"
Several seconds after Rei landed on the ground.
One person who came to his senses within that brief time shouted at Rei.
Rei didn't know whether that was fast or slow.
Though he did think that if it were him, he would have reacted sooner.
"It doesn't matter who I am, does it? I have permission to enter this Treant Forest. Since you're also in the Treant Forest, that means you naturally have permission to be here too, right?"
While asking this, he considered what to do if it turned out the other party was actually someone who had received proper permission from Daskar.
From Rei's perspective, these ten were unfamiliar faces in the Treant Forest, so he had judged them to be unauthorized intruders.
However, it wasn't as though Rei knew every single person Daskar had granted permission to enter the Treant Forest.
That was why he thought it was possible... but for better or worse, the other party showed visible agitation at Rei's words.
"It seems you really did enter without permission. ...I'll say this just in case, and I mean just in case: this Treant Forest is a place you cannot enter without permission. If you claim you didn't know that, then surrender quietly. If you explain the situation to the guards, something might work out."
Saying that, he judged from their behavior up to this point that they genuinely hadn't been unaware of such things...
"I figured."
Looking at the ten people drawing their weapons, Rei muttered those words.